This invention relates to a water pedestal for providing a water hookup for recreational vehicles that is resistant to damage from accidental collisions.
Many RV parks provide a water hookup that is a faucet or hose bib located below ground level. Such below ground level installations can fill with water or contain insects or small reptiles, and require the user to get down on his or her hands and knees to attach a hose.
Where above ground level installations are used, they typically are merely pipes extending upwardly from the underground water main with a faucet on the upper end. In parking recreational vehicles it is not uncommon for the driver to inadvertently bump into such a pipe and cause a rupture between the pipe and the water main. The rupture causes minor flooding and requires the services of a plumber to fix.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a water pedestal that provides a water hookup that is easier to access and which can sustain low speed impacts without rupturing the connection to the water main.
This and other objects are achieved by a water pedestal that includes a housing having a tubular wall, an open lower end and an open upper end.
A flexible conduit is located substantially within the housing, the, flexible conduit having a lower end extending below the open lower end of the housing and adapted to be attached to an underground water main.
The flexible conduit has an upper end attached to a ball valve. Rigid conduit means communicate the ball valve with an anti-syphon hose bib. The hose bib includes a rigid pipe and a faucet attached to the outer end of the rigid pipe, the rigid pipe extending through the wall of the water pedestal housing adjacent the upper end of the housing.
The flexible conduit has a length that is about twice the distance between its connection to the underground water main and the ball, valve. This excess length allows a loop to be formed between the lower and upper ends thereof.
A slip sleeve is located within the housing and attached to the tubular wall of the housing at a mid-portion thereof. The loop of the flexible conduit is placed within the slip sleeve and held in place therein.
A cap is removably attached to the open upper end of the housing.
In use the lower end of the housing is surrounded by a non-packing filler material, such as round rock having a diameter between about 0.25 inch and about 2.0 inches. In the event the water pedestal is struck at a low speed by a recreational vehicle, the housing will tilt backwards within the non-packing filler material, and the resulting force acting on the flexible conduit will cause part of the excess length thereof contained in the loop to be pulled downwardly, thereby preventing a rupture at the connection between the flexible conduit and the water main.